Steven Page

Early life

Page was born in Scarborough, Ontario. After skipping first grade, Page was enrolled in Scarborough's gifted program at Churchill Heights Public School. Page's father, Victor, was a drummer, as is his brother, Matthew. As a child, Page would attempt to play songs on the piano, while his dad would keep the beat on the drums. Page took ten years of piano lessons (though claimed he did not learn to play). He also was a member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir.

During childhood, Page had his best friend "stolen" by a schoolmate, Ed Robertson, and resented Robertson for some time. The two went to high school at Woburn Collegiate Institute but steered clear of each other until Page spotted Robertson at a Harvey's restaurant after a Peter Gabriel concert and was surprised to find that Robertson was also a fan. This led to Page and Robertson talking, becoming friends, and ultimately, forming BNL. They were both counselors at the Scarborough Schools Music Camp in the summer of 1988, where some of their early collaborations in music were born. Page wrote songs with his friend Geoff Pounsett and made tapes of those songs; Robertson had obtained a tape the two had made, and knew some of Page's songs. Page was flattered by this and the two eventually became good friends.

Barenaked Ladies

Robertson invited Page to perform with him at a charity show under the name Barenaked Ladies in 1988, and ultimately the show led the pair to full-time careers in the band. Page attended York University in the English program with a minor in theory and choral studies, but dropped out to focus on the band's rising success.

Page was a main songwriter from the band's inception. A majority of the band's material came either from Page alone, or co-writing with Robertson. All but one of the songs on the band's first album had a songwriting or co-writing credit for Page. He is credited on every song from both Maroon (2000) (other than the album's hidden track) and Everything to Everyone (2003). In all, 97 of the 113 songs on the band's primary studio albums during his tenure (not including its holiday or children's albums) are credited or co-credited to Page. Though his level of credit remained steadily high, the contribution of initial song ideas became more evenly distributed to Robertson, and later other bandmates Kevin Hearn and Jim Creeggan; though Page continued to contribute his skill in completing or just polishing lyrics.

Page had also been the band's main lead singer since the beginning, though he always shared some of the lead vocal duty with Robertson. This stemmed, in part, from the band's common practice of writing for one's own voice; as Robertson came up with more song ideas, he would sing lead on more songs. All of the singles from the band's first three albums featured a Page lead vocal (not including "If I Had $1000000" which featured a call and answer lead vocal from both Robertson and Page), and nine of the 11 songs on the band's first live album, Rock Spectacle, featured a Page lead. Following the success of "One Week", the band's first single with a Robertson lead, songs with a Robertson lead became selected equally as singles from that point on.

Page played acoustic and electric guitar (and occasionally other instruments) for the band both in the studio and live. Most of the time, he played rhythm parts on songs he wrote, allowing Robertson to play more of a lead guitar role; but occasionally, he played a lead guitar role to Robertson's rhythm guitar. Page sometimes assumed guitarist duties on tracks he did not sing on, though never to the exclusion of Robertson on guitar as well.

In 2002, Page won an International Achievement Award at the SOCAN Awards in Toronto for the song "Pinch Me" he co-wrote with Ed Robertson.

By 2004, Page was having reservations about his contributions to the band. He has indicated that he participated in the recordings of Barenaked for the Holidays and Snacktime! despite being opposed to the recording of both albums. Concerning Snacktime!, Page indicated, "[i]t was a lot of fun to do, but it wasn't my idea. I was along for the ride."

On February 24, 2009, it was announced by both Page and the other members of Barenaked Ladies that Page would be leaving the group to pursue other opportunities including solo projects and theatrical opportunities, and that the remainder of the band would continue in his absence. The decision had been made about a week and a half before the public announcement, with one reason being the rest of the band's desire to record a new album, and Page's reluctance to do so. Page believes that his much-publicized drug arrest in Syracuse, New York hastened his already-imminent split with the band.

Page commented in August 2011 that around the time of his arrest, "the band was no longer the joyous place that it once was, but it hadn't been joyous for a long time before that. It wasn't that we didn't put on good shows, we still had a great time onstage every night," he added. "But it became a place where work was just about the stress and not the end product. And (the arrest and band tension) made me gather the strength to go out and do what I always wanted to do."

In September 2015, TMZ discovered court documents filed by Steven Page over "The Big Bang Theory Theme". He alleges that he was promised 20% of the proceeds from the song, which includes revenue generated from the greatest hits album that includes it, and claims that former bandmate Robertson has kept that money entirely for himself.

Partnership with Stephen Duffy

As a young man, Page was a fan of songwriter Stephen Duffy, and began corresponding with him after Duffy replied to a fan letter. Page was ultimately invited to co-write with Duffy in the early 1990s, and several co-written songs subsequently appeared on BNL albums, starting with Maybe You Should Drive. With the shift to a stronger intra-band writing process, Page/Duffy material found itself without a forum.

In June 2005, Page released his first "solo" album, of which all but one song were Page/Duffy co-writes (the other was written by Page alone). The project was billed as The Vanity Project (as both the album and artist name). Page implied in interviews that the project was his alone, and that it was a forum for him to collaborate with writers/artists outside BNL. At the time, he suggested that future albums might not involve Duffy, but could feature other collaborations. However, given his subsequent departure from Barenaked Ladies, Page elected to label his follow-up solo record as a "Steven Page" record.

Solo

Following his departure from Barenaked Ladies, Page's first major project was to complete writing music for the first production of Bartholomew Fair: A Comedy at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Summer 2009. During that summer, he embarked on a tour of music festivals (mostly folk festivals) accompanied by Kevin Fox on cello.

Page set up promotional accounts for himself on several social networking websites under his name and under the billing "The Steven Pages".

Page's first release following his split with Barenaked Ladies was A Singer Must Die, a studio recording of songs he performed in a pair of concerts, Songbook II, with the contemporary music group Art of Time Ensemble. Following the album's release on February 16, 2010, the artists embarked on a 12-date concert tour. Page participated in other concerts with Art of Time Ensemble, including Take This Waltz (a collection of waltzes), and a performance of the Beatles' Abbey Road album, using semi-classical arrangements by Art of Time Ensemble. In November 2011, Page performed a songbook concert, Songbook 6, featuring new songs. He also sang in performances of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album akin to the previous Abbey Road concert.

Page's first original material album under his own name, Page One, was released on October 19, 2010. Page toured the record across Canada and the US, including a string of shows supporting the Goo Goo Dolls.

On January 1, 2011, Page performed at the NHL Winter Classic and led the singing of Canada's national anthem before the game. He performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the state funeral of Jack Layton on August 27, 2011.

On January 17, 2012, Page released a new single containing two new songs, "A Different Sort of Solitude" and "Manchild". "A Different Sort of Solitude" was written for the film French Immersion. "Manchild" was co-written with Craig Northey and is the b-side of the single.

On the same day as the release of the single, Page was nominated for the 32nd Annual Genie Awards for the composition of "A Different Sort of Solitude".

Page has hosted a television show, The Illegal Eater, in which he is featured traveling to various cities in search of underground restaurants and/or pop up supper clubs.

In July 2014, it was announced that Page had been working on a new studio album. The album, Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct, was released on March 11, 2016.

Trans-Canada Highwaymen

On July 16, 2016, Page performed a show as a member of a band called the "Trans-Canada Highwaymen", a supergroup of fellow Canadian musicians, including Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness, Craig Northey of The Odds (whom Page had performed several shows with before), and Chris Murphy of Sloan. The band subsequently announced a tour which began in April, 2017. The band has not written any original material and instead performs sets completely of covers of popular songs from the members' respective bands.

Personal life

Page was born to an Ashkenazi Jewish mother and a father of Anglo Protestant background. Although Page's father, Victor, converted to Judaism to appease Page's mother's religious grandparents, her grandparents disowned him nonetheless. His mother's Jewish background was the subject of an episode of a CBC genealogy program called Who Do You Think You Are?.

Page has been married twice. His first wife was Toronto musician and teacher Carolyn Ricketts, whom he wed on December 28, 1993. The two separated in February 2007, and divorced in 2009. They have three sons: Isaac (b. November 12, 1996); Benjamin (b. December 15, 1998); and Jonah (b. April 16, 2001).

Page purchased a house in Fayetteville, New York with then-girlfriend Christine Benedicto in 2009, and splits his time between there and Toronto, where his children reside. Page married Benedicto on July 23, 2011, and the couple spent their honeymoon in Paris.

Page stated publicly in 2011 that he suffers from bipolar disorder. He said that he has gone through periods of self-medicating in order to relieve the symptoms. Since leaving Barenaked Ladies, he has been able to focus more on managing and treating his illness and has cited his sons as being his source of strength for keeping healthy and continuing treatment.

Drug arrest

On July 11, 2008, Page was arrested while visiting the apartment of Christine Benedicto in Fayetteville, New York, along with Benedicto and another tenant. According to police, just after 2:00 am, officers were investigating Benedicto's car, which was suspiciously parked across the sidewalk or driveway (reports vary) in front of the home. The officers noticed Page and the other tenant, Stephanie Ford, at the kitchen table through a glass door. The two quickly covered the table with a towel when they noticed the officers. Though initially claiming that the white powder he was snorting was calcium, when Page was informed by the police that it was testing positive for cocaine Page allegedly said, "Yeah, it's cocaine." Officers also found two capsules in Page's pocket. The total mass of the cocaine discovered was 0.314 ounces (8.9 g).

Page and Ford were arrested and charged with fourth degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class C felony. Ford was also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana. When Page's car was returned to and searched, additional cocaine was found in the vehicle, but no charges were laid in connection to those at the time. During the arrest, Ford identified Page to police as the lead singer of Barenaked Ladies, which Page confirmed. Page paid $10,000 bail as well as paid Ford's $5,000 bail, and Benedicto was released on her own recognizance.

On October 28, Page appeared in court in Fayetteville, New York. Charges against him and the two women were reduced to misdemeanor possession. In accordance with an arrangement made with the court, the charges against Page were dropped on April 28, 2009, after he had complied with certain conditions for six months, including drug screening.

Other activities and interests

Discography